A SHORTLIVED “big society” roads initiative at County Hall will be sorely missed, according to campaigners who have seen pay dividends.

Last week, council chiefs announced the area stewardship fund would be one of the casualties of £46m of extra cuts needed as a result of a 12 per cent decrease in the council’s grant from central Government.

The fund was introduced about 18 months ago to link in with plans in Westminster for David Cameron’s localism bill.

It divided a £1.09m pot of cash between councillors to pay for highways work requested by their constituents.

Money from councillors John Tanner and Chip Sherwood’s slice of the fund was last week put into a £16,000 crossing in Weirs Lane, south Oxford, after 20 years of requests from residents.

Mr Tanner said: “The stewardship fund has enabled some very valuable projects and I’m very sad that it’s going.

“But what’s really important is that local councillors continue to have a say on the money that’s spent in their areas.”

In December, £25,000 from the fund was welcomed in Abingdon, where a new crossing in Spring Road will make children’s journeys to school safer.

Another success story for the fund is a zebra crossing in Denchworth Road, Grove, which was put in in July last year after an eight-year campaign.

Comments (1)

Wakey wakey chaps! 'Big Society' means cuts - the theory is we should stop relying on the state, and do things for ourselves instead, so there is no point expecting 'Big Society' initiatives to give us pots of public money!

Wakey wakey chaps! 'Big Society' means cuts - the theory is we should stop relying on the state, and do things for ourselves instead, so there is no point expecting 'Big Society' initiatives to give us pots of public money!King Joke